Construction of Hong Kong’s ‘shoebox’ flats soars along with prices
Call for government action as number of newly built flats of less than 206 sq ft – which did not even exist in 2012 – surges to 691 for 2017
Hong Kong home hunters are feeling the squeeze, with more than eight times as many micro flats built in the city in 2017 as there were five years ago, according to new data.
Last year, 691 private flats of less than 20 square metres, or about 206 square feet, were completed. And those so-called shoebox homes accounted for about 4 per cent of the 17,791 private residential units completed in the year, according to figures released to legislators on Monday. In 2016, only 206 such flats were completed, or 1.4 per cent of the year’s total.
The same data, from the Transport and Housing Bureau, showed only 1 per cent of the 8,254 private flats completed in 2013, or 81 units, were so small.
Back in 2012, such small flats did not exist. But one legislator said they were getting more popular because general buyers could still afford them, amid rising prices.